Lloyd's Seven
Lloyd's Seven, also titled Green Ninja's Seven by some sources and in the episode's script, is the fourth episode of Season 10: March of the Oni and 143rd episode overall of LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship. The title is a reference to the 1960 film Ocean's 11, its 2001 remake, and/or the all-female spin-off to the latter Ocean's 8, previously referenced by "Sparkle's Six" in Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell and "Luna's 5" on the first issue of My Little Pony: Nightmare Knights. In this episode, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor pit their wits against each other to settle a long-standing sibling rivalry, but they soon discover they are not the only competitors. It’s up to Lloyd and Spike who is the sibling supreme in this champion chivalry. Production According to Tommy Andreasen and Jim Miller on Twitter, this episode "is a thank you to the 12 voice actors and actresses who brought us this far". On April 13, 2019, Miller explained, "Back in the fall of 2017, we got Libman, Ball, St. Germain, Weseluck, Strong, Adamthwaite, Miller, Morrow, Tong, Metzger, Dobson and Vincent (via Skype) in a boardroom at DHX, and asked them to tell us the things they’d always wished their characters had been able to do, but had not yet done on their series." "There were a lot of great, fun and funny ideas! We narrowed them down to the ones we liked best and Schut, Haber and Dubuc went off and wrote a great script that incorporated those ideas in to a cohesive narrative." "The end result is another unique, and dare I say especially funny, episode. All the voice actresses who helped us out are receiving a “Story by” credit." To clarify, Miller explained that St. Germain came up with the concept of Rarity organizing a heist, Strong developed the rivalry between Twilight and Shining Armor, Libman wanted Pinkie to go to space and Fluttershy to be a super spy, Ball had Rainbow Dash interact with Zephyr Breeze and Applejack's country singer alter ego, Tong decided for Kai to dress as a knight, Morrow brings Cole to bring a jukebox, Adamthwaite developed the concept of Jay being a superhero, Miller brings up Zane also to be a Super spy, according to his interview with Libman, Metzger decided to wear a Princess dress for Nya to wear on, Dobson plans to bring the Monks for guarding, and finally, Weseluck and Vincent suggested Lloyd and Spike's relationship with Twilight as a sibling surrogate. A behind-the-scenes look into the episode's production, including interviews with the writers and voice cast, was uploaded to the My Little Pony Official YouTube channel on April 19, 2019, one day prior to the episode's premiere. According to Andreasen and Miller, the sequence of Pinkie Pie in space was designed to resemble the art style of Le Petit Prince. The episode was titled "Green Ninja's Seven" in the script, but it was changed to "Lloyd's Seven" for broadcast. On March 4, 2019, this episode, along with Season 11's "Questing for Quests" were actually made up stories by various voice actors for the main characters, most likely to celebrate the respective shows’ episode milestone. Plot The Sibling Supreme At the School of Friendship, Spike excitedly enters Twilight Sparkle's office with a recently-arrived scroll from Twilight's brother Shining Armor. The scroll depicts a toy crown, and Twilight immediately realizes what it means. They explain to Starlight Glimmer that Twilight and Shining Armor had frequent competitions when they were little, including kite-flying and getting good grades, and whoever won the most competitions at the end of each week would earn the crown as well as the title of "Sibling Supreme"—a title that Spike has also long coveted. Shining Armor invites Twilight to Canterlot Castle for their final Sibling Supreme competition, and Lloyd thinks that the Sibling Supreme is an idea to be the sibling rivalry. The castle job Upon arriving at Canterlot Castle, Twilight and Spike meet with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Master Wu, Lord Garmadon and Shining Armor—wearing the Sibling Supreme crown. They explain that, in the wake of King Sombra and the Oni's recent return, they have decided to reinforce the castle's defenses and curing Faith from the recent fall from the First Realm. Despite Luna's insistence that they handle the task themselves, Celestia has appointed Shining Armor for the task, and he needs someone to test the new defense systems. Among Shining Armor's new castle defenses are an anti-magic field made from the shards of Queen Chrysalis' throne, giant fans that prevent getting in from the air, brick walls over the entrances to the castle's underground tunnels, doubled and round-the-clock royal guard security, doors that only open with royal guard medals, a trap door, and an alarm system of geese. Shining Armor tells Twilight that if she can get past all these defenses and steal the crown without getting caught, she will earn the title of Sibling Supreme forever. At the Monastery of Spinjitzu, the Ninja are meditating in peace, when suddenly Lloyd came in. The Ninja were disrupted the meditation for Lloyd's pleas, but he said to them that his companion, Twilight Sparkle, was having a sibling supreme with Shining Armor. Unknowingly by the sibling rivalry at the Sibling Supreme, Nya remembers the time she was a princess, like Harumi was once a ruler in the Ninjago Royal Palace, and then she was then wearing a jasmine flower to symbolise love. Jay questioned being a princess will be enough, so Lloyd gathers his friends to the Castle of Friendship. Back at the Castle of Friendship, Twilight explains the situation to her friends and organizes an elaborate heist to steal the crown, and her friends agree to help pull it off. Playing to everyone's strengths, Twilight tasks Pinkie Pie and Jay with distracting the guard with a party, Applejack and Cole with breaking into the underground tunnels, Rainbow Dash and Kai with getting past the blowing fans, Rarity with making guard costumes while Nya wants to have a pep talk with the guards, and Fluttershy with charming the geese, with Zane on the GPS system surveillance. Unfortunately, Shining Armor sends another scroll and says he has already predicted and accounted for all of these measures. Rarity suggests doing the opposite of what Shining Armor expects them to do, and she takes charge of the operation, telling each of the ponies to come up with their own part of it. She, Rainbow Dash, Kai and Nya decide to interrogate the local bar scene about other secret passages into the castle tunnels. Pinkie Pie and Jay decide to serve as the team's lookout—from outer space and rescuing everyone who is kidnapped (even though they supposed to steal the crown, not save them). Applejack and Cole offer to distract the guards with her country music-singing persona "Apple Chord". Fluttershy, Zane and Spike offer to infiltrate the castle like super-spies. Finally, Rarity tells Twilight and Lloyd to do nothing whatsoever. When a heist goes wrong Using the Twinkling Balloon, the Bounty and a flight path provided by the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie drops Fluttershy, Zane and Spike off so they can enter the castle through the vents before she goes up into the clouds. Jay, on the other hand, dressed as Cloudy Zap to check on what Pinkie’s doing. On the ground, Shining Armor finds Twilight and Lloyd hanging out outside the castle and suspects they are up to something, but Twilight denies it. All of a sudden, Pinkie goes flying out of control when her hot air balloon springs a leak, and hits the Bounty. Applejack and Cole take advantage of the distraction this causes to steal one of the guards' medals. Meanwhile, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Kai and Nya head to a nearby juice bar to "shake down ne'er-do-wells for information", but the bar is closed. A local stallion points them in the direction of a blocked-off entrance into the underground tunnels, but it is guarded by the recently-hired Zephyr Breeze. Remembering Zephyr's big crush on Rainbow, Rarity outfits her in a pretty dress, with Kai dressed as a Fire Knight while Nya dressed as a Princess, and convinces her to distract Zephyr by swooning over him. With Zephyr pulled away from his post, Nya unseals the entrance into the tunnels. Elsewhere, Fluttershy, Zane and Spike infiltrate the throne room via stained glass window and try to steal the crown, but they quickly alert the geese. As the geese honk loudly, the trio trigger the trap door near the thrones and fall inside. When Luna and Garmadon come to investigate and find the throne room empty, they believe it to be a false alarm. With no lookout, no distraction, and no word from the creatures inside the castle, Twilight and Lloyd fear the entire heist is a failure. Salvaging the Operation Inside the trap door under the throne room, Fluttershy succumbs to claustrophobia, remembering the time she got similarly trapped in the Castle of the Two Sisters and was separated from Angel. She recalls fearing that Angel felt alone and forgotten, and Zane and Spike sympathize, having always felt like Twilight and Shining Armor's little brother during their sibling rivalries but unsure if they felt the same way about him. Fluttershy and Zane assures Spike that he is special to Twilight and Shining Armor, mentioning that her own brother Zephyr Breeze could learn a lot from him about being a brother. Just then, an entrance from the trap door into the underground tunnels opens when Rainbow Dash and Kai pull a torch lever, and she and Rarity and Nya reunite with Fluttershy, Zane and Spike. Unable to navigate the maze-like tunnels, the group decides to turn back and meet up with the others to reevaluate their plan. Back outside the castle, Twilight and Lloyd nervously paces back and forth while waiting to hear from the rest of their friends. When Rarity and the others appear from inside a vent, they inform Twilight and Lloyd that their parts of the plan all failed as well, and Twilight despairs that she will never get the crown. Spike suggests they go back to Twilight's original plan, even though Shining Armor is expecting it. With the rest of her friends in agreement, Twilight decides to give it a shot and thanks Spike and Lloyd for the well-needed encouragement. The true Sibling Supreme In accordance with Twilight's original plan, Pinkie Pie and Jay distract the guards with a party, Rainbow Dash and Kai carry Fluttershy as she zooms past the blowing fans, with Zane using the GPS surveillance, Applejack and Cole break into the sealed-up underground tunnels with assistance from Maud Pie, Rarity poses as a royal guard to get past security, and Fluttershy calms down the honking geese. Once inside, everyone regroups in the throne room, and Twilight sees the crown within sight. Unfortunately, Shining Armor appears to stop them, having predicted Twilight's whole plan as he previously warned. Just before Wu and Celestia can declare Shining Armor as permanent Sibling Supreme, both Lloyd and Spike hold the crown for themselves, having conspired with Princess Luna and Lloyd's father the entire time. He explains that he sensed Celestia and Luna's disagreement regarding castle security earlier and made a deal with Luna. She deliberately appointed Zephyr Breeze to guard the tunnels and kept Celestia out of the castle hallways, while Spike sabotaged Pinkie's hot air balloon and made sure the Mane Six and the Ninja went back to Twilight's original plan. Finally, during Shining Armor's victorious gloating, Luna teleported the crown directly into Spike's hands and he gave the crown to Lloyd. Wu and Celestia half-heartedly apologize to Garmadon and Luna for disregarding her earlier concerns and begrudgingly agree that they need to account for both inside and outside threats to castle security. With both Twilight and Shining Armor having lost the competition, they declare both Lloyd and Spike to be the true Siblings Supreme and the little brothers they have always had, and everyone gathers around them for a group hug. Cast *Applejack - Ashleigh Ball *Cole - Kirby Morrow *Fluttershy - Andrea Libman *Garmadon - Mark Oliver *Jay - Michael Adamthwaite *Kai - Vincent Tong *Lloyd - Sam Vincent *Nya - Kelly Metzger *P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward *Pinkie Pie - Andrea Libman *Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver *Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain *Rainbow Dash - Ashleigh Ball *Random Pony - Brian Drummond *Rarity - Tabitha St. Germain *Spike - Cathy Weseluck *Saturn - Brian Drummond *Server Pony - Brian Drummond *Twilight Sparkle - Tara Strong *Wu - Paul Dobson *Zane - Brent Miller *Zephyr Breeze - Ryan Beli Locations Visited *Equestria **Ponyville ***Castle of Friendship ***School of Friendship ***Sweet Apple Acres (flashback) **Canterlot ***Canterlot Castle *Ninjago **Mountains of Impossible Height ***Monastery of Spinjitzu Transcript *Lloyd’s Seven (Transcript) Difference between this and the original MLP episode *According to the voice actors during the commentary, some of the Ninja were doing the backup plan for the sibling supreme. **Kai: Dressed as a knight while working with Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Nya. **Jay: Dressed as a superhero while looking out what Pinkie Pie is doing. **Cole: Plays a jukebox of Applejack's country song. **Zane: Teams with Fluttershy and Spike to send the geese. **Nya: Dressed as a princess while working with Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Kai. **Lloyd: A pep talk to Twilight. *Lloyd wins the Sibling Supreme, alongside Spike. *Wu said that the Monks of the Monastery will reinforce the castle and the monastery’s defenses. Trivia *The original MLP episode, "Sparkle's Seven", is actually the 200th episode of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, which is why the voice actors of the Mane Six did a storyline for this episode. In this series, they also follow the same concept, despite not having the milestone episode at all. *According to Brent Miller with an interview with Andrea Libman, he said that Zane will become the super spy, and in his personal video he created in DHX Media shows the gun barrel sequence for Zane, which is used in nearly every James Bond movie. *Discovery Family's promotion for the episode on Twitter is a parody of the theatrical poster for Ocean's 8. *Spike and Rarity's dialogue about Rarity's speech being rushed is quoted near verbatim from the 2001 remake of Ocean's 11. *Jay uses his alias name in this episode since "Iron & Stone", this time being a superhero instead of the Dragon Hunter. *During her fantasy, Pinkie Pie does the Moon Walk on Saturn's rings. *This is the first episode to use one of the Ninja's name in the episode title, in that case, Lloyd. *Kelly Metzger designed a princess dress that Nya wore is similar to the dress that Princess Macy Halbert wore, except it is pink. **She also did in the storyboard when Nya creates a vlog of A Day in a Life of Princess Nya, similar to the Nexo Knights short, Macy's Parade. You can view the video here. *This episode marks Shining Armor's final speaking appearance until "Questing for Quests". *Faith is mentioned in this episode. **Also, the Realm of Oni and Dragons is also mentioned as well. *Rarity wears the detective outfit again, since "On a Wish and a Prayer". *Applejack's flashback is a parody of the film Coal Miner's Daughter, which was based on the life of country singer Loretta Lynn. *Kai's knight outfit may be reference to the Tighty Knighty character, Shia LaBlade from the Nexo Knights line. *During Rarity's fantasy noir sequence, the pony that is seated at the counter, wearing a top hat, is a ponified version of legendary stage and silent film actress, Marlene Dietrich. *Pinkie Pie's fantasy sequence was a nod to The Little Prince. *Jay said "Looks like you've gone from fame to framed," may be referring to Misako's quote in "Crystal to Famed - Part I", when she tried to bring the Ninja to escape. *It is unknown why Lloyd became a sibling after getting a crown as the Sibling Supreme, despite not having a sibling at all. *Spike's fantasy sequence is inspired by Mission: Impossible. **The opening stinger of the Mission: Impossible theme song plays when Pinkie Pie rappels down into the throne room in her piñata disguise. *Pinkie says, "Canterlot, we have a problem", the second parody of the misquoted Apollo 13 dispatch, "Houston, we've had a problem" after "Game to the Fame". *This is the third episode to portray Luna and Celestia after "Slice of Life" and "A Time of Traitors". *Wu and Garmadon's relationship returns in this episode, after their separation in "Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2". *Rainbow Dash's outfit and manestyle she wears to distract Zephyr bear a resemblance to Megara's outfit and hairstyle from Hercules. *Princess Luna stroking a goose is a parody of the cliche of a Bond villain stroking his cat, most famously, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. *Jay shouts "Mayday, Mayday!" when the Twinkling Balloon was deflated and then falls, previously used by Princess Luna in "Firstbourne" and later by Nya in "The Belly of the Beast". *This is the second episode where a scene takes place in space. The first is "The Void", but only in the fantasy sequence. *This is the only Season 10 episode to have the different end credit music. This wouldn't happened until "Road Tripping". *It is revealed that the Ninja are meditating like Wu, without the Spirit Smoke. *Unlike "Slice of Life", this episode did not pair with "Questing for Quests", another milestone episode, due to different episode lengths. However, the story is used as separate stories, according to Sam Vincent, as one is about the Sibling Supreme and the other is about the preparation of the Rainbow Festival. **In fact, this foreshadows to the next season, where the main cast prepare for the Rainbow Festival. *Here is what the voice actors and actresses made a storyline that was added up to the final scene in the episode: **Tara Strong eventually come up with an idea about the rivalry between Twilight and Shining Armor, with the outstanding Sibling Supreme. **Ashleigh Ball brings conservative point that Rainbow Dash will interact with Zephyr Breeze and Applejack's country singer alter-ego, which is a coincidence to Cole's rock singer alter-ego in "The Oni and the Dragon". * **Andrea Libman and Brent Miller planned a super spy allusion to this episode, inspiring from Mission: Impossible and James Bond movies, including Zane dressed as Neo from The Matrix franchise. Miller explains that the geese that Princess Luna controlled are similar to the Agent Smith clones, but it was eventually scrapped, according to Bragi Schut. Another thing Libman planned is that they are going for a Galaxy Mission, with Pinkie doing a moonwalk on the Saturn Rings. * **Tabitha St. Germain made a story concept that is a parody of film noir, previously used in the original MLP episode "Rarity Investigates!" In one part of this story shows, Rarity and Rainbow Dash makes a heist at the bar. She explains that Rarity is having a hard-boiled attitude. In "How to Build a Dragon", Rarity lets Rainbow Dash read Shadow Spade, while swapping with Daring Do books. In fact, the previous story is about proving Rainbow Dash innocent when she is accused of committing a crime, while the other is about interrogate the local bar scene about other secret passages into the castle tunnels. **Vincent Tong and Kelly Metzger eventually came upon the storyline based on the film noir. One scene shows that Rarity disguised Kai and Nya to dress as medieval icons, so Kai dressed as a Fire Knight, make a striking resemblance to Shia LaBlade, a character from the Nexo Knights line as a rival group called Tighty Knighties. Ironically, Tong also voices another Tighty Knighty member, known to be as Jousting Bieber, a parody of Justin Bieber, a famous singer. Metzger also design a dress prototype for Nya, which is actually based on a princess gown, worn by Macy Halbert. She assist some writers in the original storyboard about a vlog, as Nya show it to Zephyr Breeze, but Bragi Schut said it to shorten the vlog to save time. **Kirby Morrow also came up with a plan to supervise Applejack in the country-style singing performance. Previously, he made a concept of Zane playing a wrong song in a jukebox, so he decided to use the same idea when Cole plays a jukebox containing a country song. **Michael Adamthwaite eventually decided for Jay to become a superhero counterpart, but not like Fritz Donegan. He use "Cloudy Zap" name as a superhero name, previously used in "Iron & Stone". One of his design is actually based on the Flash, a hero from DC Comics. He explains that one of the scene showcase Jay asking Pinkie Pie to go on an undercover. * **Paul Dobson made up a plan where Wu asked the Monastery Monks to guard the Canterlot Castle, even in the flashback where Wu accepts one of the Monks to paint such murals about Ninjago and Equestrian History. The Monks help to safeguard of the sibling supreme whatever it takes. **Cathy Weseluck and Sam Vincent both come in an idea about how both become the Siblings Supreme. Weseluck planned Spike to savage the crown using super spy techniques, while Vincent eventually came an idea for Lloyd to be a new sibling. Both managed to get the crown by teamwork. Previously, when Vincent compared to Dave Franco, Lloyd's voice actor in The LEGO Ninjago Movie about being a brother, he said that Franco has two brothers, Tom and James. Vincent also reminded that he have a sibling or not, so this episode will find out if Lloyd have a sibling. Errors *During the shot where Twilight talks to Rarity about her opinion to break into Celestia’s Castle, when Twilight’s body moves to the right, Spike disappears from the shot, and then reappears a few shots later. *During Applejack's fantasy, in the first shot of Apple Chord as a teenager, Apple Bloom can be seen in the crowd with her cutie mark, compared to the rest of the shots where she does not have her cutie mark. *Twilight and Applejack's discussion of Applejack bucking through a wall happens immediately after a guard fires Zephyr Breeze. In fact, the camera actually pans from 1 to the other (18:22). But when the beginning and end of the pan are combined, we can see that there's only about 20 feet between these 2 things, so Applejack breaking through the wall happens right next to a guard and construction worker, and the guard is even looking in their direction and actually walking toward them with nothing obscuring her view. **It's an in-universe flaw, not a reflection of the animation itself. That's the main purpose of this forum: to point out animation errors, not to explain/reconcile perceived story mistakes. Gallery Lloyd's_Seven_Title_Card.png|Title card